Chapter 2

Abhimanyu

The house was silent when I woke up, the kind of silence that only exists before the world begins to stir.

I stopped the alarm of my phone and got up from the bed. I laced up my running shoes and stepped outside the house. The sky was painted in blue and orange shades as the Sun had just begun to rise. I started slow, letting my body wake up as my feet hit the pavement. With every step, my mind grew quieter. This was my space, my rhythm. Just me, the road, and the steady sound of my breathing.

As I stepped back into the house after my run, the morning silence had faded, replaced by the familiar aroma of freshly brewed tea. Of course," my Maa made the best tea in the world."

As I reached towards the table while running my fingers across my damp hair. "You are late today", my dad said while reading his newspaper. I sat beside him while taking a sip of tea from his cup. My mother came towards us with a plate of parathas. "Not again maa, it's too much butter", I said. My mom seemed to be in disbelief with my words and gave a very annoyed reaction and replied, "how would you survive if you keep complaining about butter? You run every morning, yet you act like a little extra butter will ruin everything," she said, shaking her head.

I smirked, tearing off a piece of the paratha anyway. There was no point arguing—she always won.

"You two do the same thing every morning," my dad muttered, flipping another page of the newspaper.

I leaned back in my chair, letting the familiar warmth of home settle around me. These small moments—the teasing, the routine, the predictability—felt like something I never wanted to change.

But before I could enjoy it for too long, my mom clapped her hands. "Enough, now go get ready. You’ll be late."

I groaned but got up, stretching lazily before heading to my room. School was waiting, especially exams.

I reached my class, dropped my bag, and quickly stepped out to avoid the unnecessary attention from those girls.

I was so quick to leave the class that I didn't noticed somebody waking into the class and I bumped onto her. I was none other than Subhi, the person whose existence was always known to me but we both never bothered about each others existence.

She muttered, "Sorry" but it seemed more frustrated rather than apologetic - as if she was frustrated at herself, or the situation or maybe even at me......

I was paused by her actions, she didn't even looked back at me as if I was not even worthy to give a second glance. This was new to me. People usually reacted differently around me—sometimes cautious, sometimes overly friendly. But she? She barely acknowledged me.

I didn’t know why that stuck with me.

I exhaled, shaking off the thought as I walked towards my seat watching the teacher coming towards my class.

Just another accident. Just another moment. Just another face in the crowd.

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